Forensics - Asphyxia

[Susan]

Etsu's post about the strangled woman with petechiae made me remember about these photos I'd come across before, so I thought I'd post them here for you all.

There's about 70 photos here, altogether, showing different causes of asphyxia - drowning, hanging, suffocation, carbon monoxide inhalation etc., and the tell tale signs seen during autopsy. Enjoy.

Drowning


The diagnosis of drowning tends to be one of exclusion.

Other than some work with diatoms, there are no good drowning tests to prove a person drowned; the autopsy is usually negative. To make the diagnosis, the body is usually wet, or is found in water.

There may be injuries from being in the water, such as tears and scrapes of the skin from impacts against boats or bridges.

Occasionally, marine life, more often in salt water, may feed on the skin of the face, especially around the mouth, nose, and ears. Abrasions may be found on the forehead, knees, and backs of hands from a body scraping against the bottom of the lake or pool.

There may be no external signs of trauma. Froth in the nose and mouth may be present. Wrinkling of the skin on the hands and feet is typical.

Injuries to the body may occur from CPR attempts or from removing the body from the water. Internally, there may be heavy, wet lungs in those individuals who drown in salt water, but this is not always the case with fresh water drowning.


Wrinkling of the skin from drowning. Notice the rest of the body does not have this change. The feet had skin slippage like the hands.

This young white man drowned in a river and was not found for 4-5 days after death in the early fall. There were no signs of drowning.
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This man drowned after he was handcuffed, struck in the head, and forced into a river.




Abundant moss covered most of this young figure The moss was especially thick on the trunk. It is a man's body after only three weeks in a pond. See next photo. had to be scraped away to look for injuries.



Another angle of the face after scraping, with good exposure of the mouth and teeth.




The trunk and part of the face after scraping



There are numerous abrasions, and contusions. The boy's uncle also had similar injuries as the lacerations to this boy's face and mouth. He and his uncle drowned in a shallow river during an afternoon outing with family. See next photo.


This is an underwater photograph showing none of the injuries to the young man's face that were evident at the autopsy. These injuries did not occur during a fight or the struggle for survival.


Drowning. Foam in the nose is a classic sign of drowning. It may be the only sign of drowning on the body. Some drowning victims have abrasions of the face, forehead, hands, feet, and knees.



This woman was discovered in a tub full of water after the police went to her home to notify her of her boyfriend's death. He committed suicide by inhaling auto exhaust. See next photo.


A radio was in the water, suggesting electrocution. See next photo.



The water had caused significant skin slippage. See next photo.



There were abrasions of the left hand and wrist. See next photo.



There were abrasions under the chin, petechiae in the eyes, and soft tissue haemorrhage of the neck. She had been strangled and placed in the bathtub with a radio to make it appear as if she died of electrocution. The boyfriend strangled her and then committed suicide.


Hanging and Strangulation



There may be blood on the clothing and relaxation of the bladder and bowels in people who hang themselves. It is also common for the decedent's feet to be touching the floor or ground.



Most scene photographs show the people after they have already been taken down from the hanging position.



The man in the previous photo was not discovered hanging. His buttocks were on the floor when he was found.



This man hanged himself. His left foot is on the floor and his right is resting on the chair. See next photo.



The feet on the floor or other objects are not an unusual finding.




The livor mortis is as expected. It is concentrated in the dependent extremities. See next photo




A posterior view also shows the dependent lividity







"Tardieu spots." Notice the right leg in photo above does not have the spots - figure man hanging with one foot on chair - The bottom of the feet also reveal which foot because it was resting on the chair. These spots are also seen in was resting on the chair and which was in contact with the other parts of the body when the decedent has been dead for floor. The ball of the left foot (arrow) is pale because it was an extended period of time. See next photo. resting firmly against the floor.



The rope pattern on this neck is very distinct and matches the rope. The pattern on the neck is wider than the rope because the folds of skin partially surrounded the ligature.



A shoestring wrapped twice around the neck caused these pale marks with adjacent hemorrhage.




This is a typical nonpatterned abraded ligature mark which is commonly caused by objects such as towels, shirts, sheets, trousers, etc.




Sometimes determining manner of death is difficult. This is probably an accident; however, this cannot be stated with certainty. The boy may have been experimenting to see how it feels to choke.




This retired physician had neck problems for which he used traction to ease the pain. Autopsy revealed he had a bad heart. There was no reason to believe he committed suicide. See next photo.



Lividity is on his lower face as expected. His lips and tongue have dried. There were no soft tissue hemorrhages in the neck and there were no petechiae of the eyes.



The hand position of the assailant on this model suggests one method of how people are strangled. Most people die from the pressure on the blood vessels and not from collapsing the larynx and trachea. See next photo.



The victim may grasp the assailant's hands, leaving fingernail marks on his neck.



figure 9.21 The pinpoint hemorrhages in the this man's eyes and on the outside of his eyelids are called petechiae. Petechiae are not specific for strangulation. They can be found in other forms of asphyxiation and sudden death.

figure 9.20 This man was manually strangled. There are contusions on the lower part of the neck and fingernail marks (arrow) above the contusions. There were numerous soft tissue hemorrhages and petechiae of the eyes.


figure 9.21 The pinpoint hemorrhages in the this man's eyes and on the outside of his eyelids are called petechiae. Petechiae are not specific for strangulation. They can be found in other forms of asphyxiation and sudden death.




The petechiae in this boy's eyes occurred when he accidentally hanged himself




Hemorrhages in the trachea (left) may also be seen in strangulation and other asphyxial deaths. The lower arrow in the right photo points to the vocal cords while the upper arrow points to petechiae in the epiglottis.




The small hyoid bone is located high in the neck under the chin. The pathologist looks for injury to this area (arrow) structure because it is commonly fractured in a manual strangulation.




There is hemorrhage in the base of this tongue (arrow) caused by manual strangulation.





This man was killed by his daughter's boyfriend. The assailant said he strangled the man with a come-a-long during the fight. See next photo.



This is a come-a-long. It is used to move a heavy object toward another object. One end is attached to a support and the hook is attached to the object to be moved. See next photo.




The come-a-long is an unwieldy piece of equipment. It cannot be hooked and cranked quickly during a fight. The assailant lied about this. See next photo.




A closer look at the neck reveals a second abraded ligature mark (arrow) below the area where the come-a-long was tightened. This proves the man's neck was compressed prior to the assailant's use of the come-a-long.



Suffocation.



Asphyxiation by occluding the airway with a bag. This method of suicide is seen more commonly in the elderly.



The car this man was working on fell off the concrete blocks, compressing his neck. See next photo.




There were few serious injuries. The arrow points to the worst of his external injuries.




The pressure on his neck caused an impressive traffic accident. His face is dark purple from blood forced up hemorrhages in his eyes. The hemorrhages were not the typical to his head under pressure. He died because he could not breathe due to compression of his chest.




The body of a young man was discovered upside down in his car after the car rolled over. See next photo.




Notice his head is bent completely around and resting on his chest. The autopsy revealed no injuries. His neck was not broken and there were no petechiae. This is another example of postural asphyxiation.




The arrow points to the only mark on this man's body after he was discovered compressed between the cab of his truck and the ground after an accident. He had petechiae, but there were no internal injuries.




The abrasions on this boy's face were his only injuries. He died of suffocation after his face was compressed against another person's back.





These injuries to the neck appear significant; however, there was little internal damage. His head was caught between the floor of an elevator and the outside door of the elevator shaft. His head was bent enough to prevent breathing.





This alcoholic fell asleep with his head on the pillow. See next photo.




His nose and mouth were occluded by the pillow, and he suffocated. The autopsy was unremarkable except for signs of alcoholism. The scene investigation was essential in determining the proper manner of death (accident).




Another case of positional asphyxiation. This alcoholic fell out of bed and ended up in a position in which he could not breathe. See next photo.



Death due to occlusion of the airway. This man fell into a silo while shovelling corn.




This woman was discovered dead at home by her mother. She was a chronic alcoholic who was known to swallow large quantities of food and then drink alcohol. She did this because she felt the food would decrease the absorption of the alcohol, thereby allowing her to remain drunk for longer periods of time. See next photo.




A few fragments of food were in her mouth and on her face. See next photo.




A bolus of turkey was lodged in her airway. See next photo.




The wad of poultry measured over 2" x 1.5" in total dimension.



Autoerotic asphyxiation





Autoerotic asphyxiation. This young man died from compression of the neck after he lost consciousness during masturbation. There were pornographic magazines on the floor and a full-length mirror leaning against the bed. See next photo.




There was a towel around the neck to prevent abrasions and the ropes were tied in an elaborate swing-like configuration. See next photo.




He had devised a slipknot to help him if he needed a quick escape.




This soldier also died during masturbation. He had a bag over his head during the act and died from a lack of oxygen.




Carbon Monoxide.





Most carbon monoxide asphyxiations occur in a garage. This one occurred in the open and no hoses were involved. See next photo.




The back seat of the car was removed; a hole was cut in the floor. See next photo.




Carbon monoxide poisoning causes red livor mortis. Red livor mortis also occurs in cyanide poisoning and from the cold.





Fire

Soot or smoke in the trachea is a sign of inhalation at the time of the fire. The person was alive during the fire.

[Susan]

Damn I don't know what happened to the 2 photos up there that are missing, but here they are.

This young white man drowned in a river and was not found for 4-5 days after death in the early fall. There were no signs of drowning.





This man drowned after he was handcuffed, struck in the head, and forced into a river.

[AussieAngel]

Thanks some great information!

[Etsu]

Great post

[wmbondurant]

Nice listing !

[MesaGrande]

Fantastic post

[vagabond]

Excellent thread- thank you Sly!

[kellyhound]

great informative thread

[arminius2]

Interesting collection. thanx

[oicutey]

Thanks much! One of my favorite posts!